BrokenPromise

On the Limitations of Creativity

@whizzball1 I should probably clarify that when I say powerful character, I am taking their combat abilities, problem solving skills, level of intelligence, number of friends, synergy with others, etc in relation to the other characters. I am not talking about just their combat abilities. A king who commands an entire nation is a powerful character, even if he himself lacks combat capabilities. Otherwise I agree with most of what you said. But Spectre has a lot of utility powers, can summon henchmen, is deadly at range and close quarters, is very precise, Highly intelligent, has friends despite being "slightly introverted," with his only real weaknesses being maybe his ability to talk to some people and that he needs to work hard to make his magic work. Barring the fact that it's extremely easy to power play with a character like that, the only people he really needs to surround himself with are people who are good communicators.

This doesn't necessarily make him super strong in every setting. With the right team, I see Spectre filling in the roll of a support character during a big team fight, augmenting the powers of those around him. But in skimming the other characters, they were all far more specialized and couldn't do things as well as Spectre can. Power is relative.

This is another thing that can make judging power really hard. Some players make really tight kitted characters, but push those characters to the very limits of their sheet. Others have characters that look OP on paper, but they have lots of nuances that they didn't write down yet respect, making the actual character weaker. This is probably the largest contributing factor to me seeing Spectre as being so strong. Because while you may play him fairly, not everyone will.

Avatar: The Last Airbender. Good show, but Sokka spent most of his time just being comic relief. Once Aang became the actual Avatar, the only thing he really needed everyone else for was to deal with things he didn't have time for. Aang fought Ozai because he was the only one who could, and was the best choice for that event. It's wonderful if you can find RP groups that can function like that, but I don't see them too often.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

There wasn't really much to say about Zachary's reaction to the carnage sisters entering the room and the one acting like some sort of queen. There was irritation at the shenanigans, there was him silently waiting for them to vacate the area so his attention could be focused on the start of the investigation, and there was the brief moment where he looked over the details regarding the state of the body and the cause of death.

The heart being pierced was the actual cause of death, but it was possible she suffered through the other wounds before then. She was hit in the back of the head with something blunt, so perhaps she was unconscious during all of this? One can only hope.

That was the best possible scenario, given the limited information Zachary currently had at the beginning of this investigation. Assuming this wasn't a perfect killing, it was likely more details would be revealed in time, even if nobody here was a true detective. The Infinite Archer hoped that, for her sake, Marianne hadn't suffered through so much pain when she died. It wasn't human to wish an innocent person to suffer like that.

"Some others seem to be checking other possible points of interest, but do you mind investigating the room with me, Jez? I know we won't be the only ones, but this would be the most obvious place to find something important. At least, I think so." he sighed. "I'm not exactly a detective, so I guess my opinion in these matters doesn't hold very much weight."

Jezebel hadn't fully recovered from seeing the body the first time. She was still shaking a bit, and the corners of her lips were twitching. “Yea, it's a mess in there anyway. Shaun is a total slob, haha!” She walked inside. “Maybe someone set the fire to tidy things up?” Jezebel kneeled over the ground and started shuffling around the debris. The sprinkler system had soaked just about everything, which made it even harder to sort through the wet, burnt debris.

"I would like to joke about the dirty room, but to be honest I have problems keeping my own room tidy." Zachary gave a soft laugh as he looked around the room. He noticed others doing their own thing, such as a couple of other Infinites going around and, presumably, learning alibis or something along those lines. His gaze paused momentarily on Noel, before he turned back to face Jez.

"Err, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I had that problem. I don't exactly own enough stuff in my room to really make that big of a mess, as you've seen."

Watching his step, Zach made his way to one side of the room near the front and began inspecting the walls and around them. He wanted to see if anything looked suspicious, but was honestly unsure what that would fit that bill. Shaun was... the Infinite Web Designer, yes? Then, Zach figured, anything that didn't seem web-designy was what he was looking for, but it wasn't exactly a clean room, as his friend had mentioned earlier. He opted to avoid investigating the corpse itself due to others already doing so, and also because he didn't want to force Jezebel to get too close, as she was certainly still not at 100%.

"...A fire, huh. Do you think it was meant to cover something up, or do you think something else caused it?" he asked curiously. On that note, Zach wondered what even caused the fire. Perhaps that would be answered soon.

“This was totally the killer's doing, if that's what you're asking.” Jezebel started to sort the debris into several piles. “I mean, Shaun is a web designer, isn't tidy coding and junk suppose to be their thing? Or do you think a betty like Marianne was just too hot for this room to handle?” She was still spouting out those odd jokes. “I mean I doubt Marianne was just having a smoke and forgot to put the cigarette out, if that's what you're asking.”

Continuing along the wall as they spoke, Zachary noticed, well, mostly what you would expect. The fire had either scorched or burned a lot of the room, and most of the stuff that was left was either unimportant to the case or simply didn't last very long under the heat of the flames. Jezebel hadn't spoken up about seeing anything either, which was a bit disappointing, but if finding evidence was this easy, then the killer simply wasn't trying hard enough.

"You're probably right. Err, about it being the killer's doing, not about Marianne being hot enough to ignite the room." Zachary clarified with the faintest hint of a blush, as he spotted something that grabbed his attention just a tiny bit more than anything else had so far. He began to move further down the wall, towards a corner of the room. "I'll admit, I'm not too sure why I asked something with such an obvious answer, haha."

...hmm?

As he drew closer to the item of interest, he couldn't help but scratch his head. Unless Shaun was into playing practical jokes on people in his room, then he wasn't sure why it would even be here. And Shaun didn't seem to be the kind of person who could manage that. At least, from what Zach had seen.

"Hey, Jez, could I get you to come look at this?" he asked, holding up the small object for her to see.

To him, it looked like one of those small buzzer devices you use to shock people when giving handshakes, but the back cover wasn't on. Could be in better condition, too, but then again, so could most everything in the room currently. The fact that he could tell what it was meant it hadn't really suffered a horrible fate at the hands of the fire.

Jezebel stood up and wandered over to see what Zach had found. “Hey, that looks like a hand buzzer. Bitchin'! That's a weird thing to find in here.” She placed a hand on her chin. " It's so wrecked! someone pulled the positive and negative leads out. It totally won't work like that.”

This was some great news! Since Jezebel confirmed that it was indeed a hand buzzer and that it was indeed quite odd to find it in Shaun's room, that meant Zachary wasn't going crazy. Unfortunately, Zachary was not sure what use a broken hand-buzzer was good for.

"It is... definitely a bit odd." he agreed. "It looks like someone doesn't appreciate being pranked."

“I actually found something too!” Jezebel took Zachary's hand and walked back over to thje piles she was sorting through. “I found some metal arrows. Just over twenty in total I think.” She picked up one. “Some of them are so bent though, I doubt they would ever fly straight.” she held one of them out for Zachary to look at. They were made of metal.

Zachary wasn't able to properly respond to being taken by the hand, having been rather intrigued by her discovery. Metal arrows? The only people who should have these would be Zachary himself, being the Infinite Archer and all... or the man who could produce these, and the one who gave him the nice bow. He gave the one Jez was holding a lookover before speaking his mind.

"This is... probably a bigger discovery than the buzzer I found." he chuckled. "Yeah, these bent arrows aren't really suitable for firing anymore." he rubbed his chin again. "They're definitely the same kind I used when we tried dealing with one of the Sisters, so I guess we can safely say they came from our Infinite Metalworker." he mused. They were hollow on the inside, but all that meant to Zach was that they weren't used for bowfishing, likely. But they were used for something. There was no reason for them to be here otherwise. But for what?

"I think we should ask Shaun and Calvin about these, when we get the chance." he suggested. "There's no way these aren't related to the case in some way."

“Yea, we should totally find Calvin and tell him about this.” Jezebel nodded. “Unless he did it? No way! Well...” she stood there for a moment in thought. “We should go ask him about it anyway. Shaun too, but this doesn't seem like something he'd have. I don't se a bow or anything in here. Unless it burned up.”

So a broken buzzer and some bent arrows... how do these relate?

Being a detective sure was hard work. Could people not simply use a normal weapon or methods in their murders so this could be easier for him? Well no, obviously not. Whomever committed this crime must really want to get out and there was zero room for screwing around if they wanted to survive. After all, if they did, then the other Infinites would apparently lose their lives.

"I can't imagine Shaun having a bow, but we can ask Calvin about that too, since the ways to acquire one are rather limited here." The Infinite Archer had a difficult time believing that the Infinite Web Designer was capable of creating his own bow. Hell, anybody who wasn't Calvin or Zach himself probably wouldn't know how to do so. "Either way, I'm not sure exactly how yet, but I feel like we've discovered some important clues." he declared triumphantly. "Or, well, I really hope so, and that these are just remains of a hidden hobby that doesn't pertain to the case. That would kinda blow."

“Kinda thinkin' there are better places to practice archery than in a grody room like this.” Jezebel smiled warmly. “You could so just throw the arrows around, and like, It just doesn't seem right.” The clown seemed especially stable when she spoke. "like this place is starting to get crowded, we should totally talk to Calvin before the bear calls off the investigation.”

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

@Card Captor @Flamelord

meetingwords.com/lkk0IvWYLK

This was originally supposed to be Scout vs Minnie, but since you guys are a part of the battle I considered it fair to let you in it.

@Ariamis

Eh, kinda thinking I could participate because of Sue, but I'm not sure if it would be too many people.

On the Limitations of Creativity

I agree concerning Drake. The draconian beast mode feels tacked on. But Drake and Spectre differ on an important point. While Drake certainly fits the description and thrust of your penultimate paragraph, Spectre does not, for a reason I didn't directly express about my character: he has a unified theme. None of his powers are tacked on; his history, personality, and abilities all converge. That theme is the balance between creation and destruction, and each of his three powers has to do with one part of that balance. Jade, however, in trying to keep the powers but conform to the roleplay, loses that theme and gains a new one. The powers, however, seem more starkly general than Spectre's because they're doing a lot of different things while "just" being crystal.

@whizzball1

Creation and destruction is in Jade's character, it's just not as obvious. I found Spectre's internal struggle more interesting than the duality of his powers. So I focused more on the hungry, evil, power granting side of his dark magic and the kind, beneficial, selfless side of his light magic. I suppose it could be made more apparent if I mentioned that her hungry crystals could penetrate Jade's victims or looked like rocky garnet, but I felt this was close enough. Alternatively, I could have gone with the light/dark theme if I used prism magic. A lot of Spectre's magic could be duplicated with a type of existence magic that dealt with splitting light into magical colors, but I felt that light representing good and darkness representing evil was too cliche.

I've already said my piece on Spectre/Jade, but you are free to think otherwise, of course.

Spectre's powers alone were never the full expression of my creativity; everything about him worked together in synergy, or he'd just be a character who happens to control light, shadow, and crystal all at once. I could theoretically keep the theme, but I'd have to rehash the powers in order to fit him into the roleplay. Yet, if I shrink and remould him into a slightly smaller box, I will not be able to bring the idea to ultimate fruition. Is this a problem? I don't know yet—but I think there's a better way to find out.

@whizzball1

I suppose I could reiterate that Jade is basically an example of Spectre that could work in the RP. However, you're not going to agree with me and that's okay.

I find your passing remark about the broadness of Spectre's powers interesting. You seem to consider it a problem. In fact, the idea of "too much power" is a common limitation, one that raises many questions and problems of its own. But you've been talking about limitations in such a general sense that we haven't been able to talk about specific limitations like that one. There are real problems—and real uses—of solid limitations. Some of the effects of these limitations can be seen in our characters. But, unless we focus on specific limitations rather than limitations in general, I don't think we can make any real points about them. I suspect that I'll return to the examples of Spectre, Drake, and Jade often, but in a more directed context.

@whizzball1

As a GM, something that we look for is a balance among all the characters. Strengths that enable them to overcome certain obstacles, and weaknesses that we can exploit for interesting encounters. When you have a character that is good at doing everything, it is difficult to give other characters time to shine or make a challenge that they can solve in an interesting way. It throws the power scale of the RP off, where things are always easy for the strongest characters, while their challenges are so above and beyond the rest of the players that they can't even participate. This is not to say every character needs to be perfectly balanced. But such large gaps in power and utility can discourage people with more focused kits that aren't as strong. This is why I said it would be more interesting to watch Jade solve problems than Spectre. Jade has to use her Crystal growing powers in many different ways, while Spectre has three Aeons to choose from. But looking at the characters already in the RP, I would have to say Jade and Spectre have too much raw power and utility to be accepted.

As for talking about limitations in a broad sense, I feel all limitations should be judged based on how well they are implimented. Rules are nothing more than limitations. You cannot have a game without limitations. But it's how the limitations are set up that determines how benificial or hindering they are.

What do you say? Even besides the four limitations I examined in my starting post, there are other common ones worth considering, and our characters are a good jumping off point.

@whizzball1

Sure, this is a topic I find interesting. So long as it doesn't devolve into petty squabbling I'm fine. While Spectre is not a character I would personally play, it was important to have an approach like that to make a character like Jade. I also accept the fact that not everyone feels that Jade is a better character.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

I mean, I'm pretty sure that won't make Penny SSStylish teir. But if there's any Sky Bastion yet, Penny will be free to get dressed up and swab the decks.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Pretty sure shiftmaster was referring to sil instead of Sonia/Minnie, as that's who penny's fighting.

But the real reason why Sonia is so powerful is because the strongest thing any woman can be in anime is a maid. Penny would fair much better against everyone if she looked like this:

On the Limitations of Creativity

@whizzball1 Here are the three characters. Spectre Merivale is of course, your original guy. Drake Merivale is an alternate version that can turn into a dragon of light when he uses his magic too much, and Jade Merivale, who is a crystal mage with some refinements to Drake's sheet.

To break down what I did to make Jade in more detail, I decided that it would be easiest to replicate all of Spectre's abilities and Drake's transformation with creation magic. The core part of Spectre was his ability to make constructs, his struggle with his darker, mana hungry tentacles, and his high-utility disks that had high utility potential. The crystal constructs are pretty much the same, but Jade's tentacles are now made from "hungry crystals" that grow off of her when she thirsts for mana, and her disks also work by growing crystals on things to perform a lot of the same things Spectre's existence magic did. You could argue that her hungry crystals are destruction/void based, but since she's just creating things using someone else's mana, I don't think it's really a debatable point.

Only pointless change I made was that after making Drake, I felt like making a chick. So Jade is a girl. But that really has very little effect on her character, as Spectre's character wasn't really focused around his gender.

ORIGINAL:

Spectre Merivale

Name: Spectre Merivale

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Appearance

Picture

Spectre is eccentric in outfit as well as in person. Fair of skin and bright red of eyes, he doesn't care much about how he looks as long as he always follows the same motif: that of an unkempt, almost-formal businessman. His jacket or coat is never closed and certainly never proper in an office, and his white-collar shirt may as well not have a collar at all except to hold his loose tie. His dress pants tend to be close-fitting and too short, owing to his tall but thin build. His socks only ever match in colour, but his shoes are perfectly neat. You can tell he's around by the satisfying sound of his shoes striking the floor.

His hair is naturally white as snow, but he occasionally makes it look a dark ocean blue with a superficial illusion. One illusion of his, however, is by no means voluntary; when he uses his magic his body takes on a crystalline complexion, once-smooth skin overlaid with geometrically perfect facets that glitter in the light. And no matter what he's doing, if you look closely you can see a faint glow all about his person, shining through his clothes.

Year: 3

Rank: Journeyman

Room No. 314

Personality

Spectre Merivale is eccentric and slightly socially inept. His upbringing did not encourage meaningful interaction with others, friends, family, or otherwise. All he really knows is how to make witty, snarky jokes and how to enliven a conversation. But his personality is almost entirely superficial—practically everything he does and says stems from his eccentricity and sarcasm-disguised excitability.

If there's one thing about him that goes deeper than the expressions on his face, it's his abiding, unyielding pursuit of goodness. He absolutely hates the idea of unkindness and evil within himself, and his zeal against it in others is unmatched. He's not exceptionally confrontational about it if he can stop evil clandestinely or discreetly, no matter how small, even if it's his friends. In fact, he cares more about ending it in his friends than in anyone else.

He wishes he could be deeper than that, a better friend, a slightly more emotional man, but he knows it may take a while, if ever. Still, he perseveres.

Magical Discipline

Spectre's magic deals primarily with light and descends from three Aeons: Creation, Destruction, and Existence. At this point in Spectre's training, his skill lies in the first two portions, but it will not be long until he finds himself in the third.

Spectre came from a family of Destructionists but first unlocked his magic in Creation. With what power he could muster up at a young age he was able to form nigh-unbreakable constructs of light that moved freely according to his will. His magical reserves, unfortunately, were small and weak. With no real supply of power he could do little to nothing on a regular basis.

When his anger against evil awakened, so did a new aspect of his power, and he found himself able to utilise the absence of light in one way and one way only: absorbing the energy in others and transferring it to himself. If he could catch someone with his shadowy tendrils he could start to drain them. He showed restraint so as not to alienate his family further, and his magical reserves grew with practice so that he had to use his destructive power less and less. Nowadays, it certainly helps in a fight, but he prefers to go all on his own power rather than enlarge his wellspring artificially.

His real potential is in the Aeon of Existence, but only because of the nature of his potential for Creation. Spectre's constructs of light are more than just sturdy objects; they channel natural magic with incredible ease at almost no magical expenditure for their creator. At this point, Spectre is beginning to notice, and with formulae, maths, and a lot of research, he will unlock the power of the Crystal Matrix. Crystal Matrices are simply disks made of light, just like the rest of Spectre's constructs, but the disks are layered with perfect fractal patterns and etched with precise magical channels.

The Matrices pull in natural magic and use it to channel the environment itself. Each Crystal Matrix uses the environment to do purely natural things—but the flow of magic encourages rapidity, efficiency, and efficacy. One Matrix may reflect and even amplify the force of a physical attack; another may dispel the magical energy in an attack it or even encourage its absorption by Spectre. Yet another could speed up blood clotting or the knitting of bones or encourage the growth of a plant—and some Matrices take more energy from Spectre than do others. But their sheer efficiency is to be envied.

Equipment: Spectre wields a sword—a real sword—that looks like it might be made of light. He uses it to channel his magic into energetic beams of light and sometimes to "draw" his constructs in midair. It's all for show at this point, but it points to another aspect of his: precision. Spectre is incredibly graceful in every action. He will not do something if he can't do it as efficiently and precisely as possible, and the showier, the better. Every step he takes is timed, every flourish of his hands—and, in battle, every spell, every attack, and every construct. He has mastered the art of precision in all things, a quality that is important to his magic in all its forms, but he has done it at the painful cost of important social development at a young age.

Biography

Spectre came from a long line of mages that operated under the Aeon of Destruction and Destruction alone. They expected much from their firstborn, but when all their attempts to awaken their kind of magic within him failed, their disappointment was palpable. When the stress got to him and woke his magic of Creation instead, his extended family shunned him and those closest to him hid behind pity. His was a homeschooling family, so he had few real relationships outside of his home. So, isolated against his will, he spent all his time training when he wasn't teaching himself the subjects his family failed to instruct him in.

His magical reserves were incredibly tiny. With so little energy to go on at any given moment he had to be extremely efficient, and his talent for precision grew quickly. His creations fascinated his younger siblings, both of whom ended up with Destruction Magic, but his parents started keeping him away from them as if he were infecting them with his creativity. However, he discovered a chance for redemption when, extinguishing his light incorrectly, he ended up with tangible darkness in its place. Black magic—a stroke of luck! Upon experimentation, he found that he could extract the energy from plants and animals, but his parents were not as overjoyed as he had hoped. They half-heartedly encouraged further experimentation and, with unexpected kindness, let him test his abilities on them.

A whole new world opened up to him. Though his drain on the magic of others was temporary, the effect on him was both temporary and permanent. Little by little he expanded his wellspring with his parents' consent, showing great restraint even as he learned to do bigger and better things with the magic he truly loved. Disappointed with his growing love for Creation magic, Spectre's uncle pushed him to use his Destruction magic more and more. Things came to a head on the day he accidentally used it to kill his favourite pet—and, with it, he nearly killed his little sister, as well. That was the day he swore off evil entirely; his uncle was found gulity for much worse than influencing Spectre and he himself was shipped right off to a magical boarding school.

For a couple of young years he distinguished himself there with exemplary performance and marked improvement. With a few new friends acting as willing sources for his magic, he soon grew his magical reserves to an actually reasonable level and was noticed for his abilities, academic and magical, by the Breakfast University for Magic.

If Spectre was forced to sacrifice something important in order to move forward, he would choose his Destruction magic in a heartbeat. It has some use in fights, but he can improve his magical reserves on his own, now, if slower than he could at his full Aeonic potential.

If Spectre were given a single wish, he would have asked for the love of his parents a few years ago. He supposes he'll figure out himself, now, and he'd rather they actually love him rather than being forced to. Instead, he'd probably wish for the ability to create anything he wanted; he'd find that rather useful.

BUFFED:

Drake Merivale

Name: Drake Merivale

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Appearance

Picture

Dragon form

Drake is eccentric in outfit as well as in person. Fair of skin and bright red of eyes, he doesn't care much about how he looks as long as he always follows the same motif: that of an unkempt, almost-formal businessman. His jacket or coat is never closed and certainly never proper in an office, and his white-collar shirt may as well not have a collar at all except to hold his loose tie. His dress pants tend to be close-fitting and too short, owing to his tall but thin build. His socks only ever match in colour, but his shoes are perfectly neat. You can tell he's around by the satisfying sound of his shoes striking the floor.

His hair is naturally white as snow, but he occasionally makes it look a dark ocean blue with a superficial illusion. One illusion of his, however, is by no means voluntary; when he uses his magic his body takes on a crystalline complexion, once-smooth skin overlaid with geometrically perfect facets that glitter in the light. And no matter what he's doing, if you look closely you can see a faint glow all about his person, shining through his clothes.

When he calls upon enough power though, His Draconian blood takes hold and he can become a fully fledged dragon. The crystals on his skin become translucent scales, and before long, he transforms into something far more monstrous than the laid back buffoon he initially comes across as.

Year: 3

Rank: Journeyman

Room No. 314

Personality

Drake Merivale is eccentric and slightly socially inept. His upbringing did not encourage meaningful interaction with others, friends, family, or otherwise. All he really knows is how to make witty, snarky jokes and how to enliven a conversation. But his personality is almost entirely superficial—practically everything he does and says stems from his eccentricity and sarcasm-disguised excitability.

If there's one thing about him that goes deeper than the expressions on his face, it's his abiding, unyielding pursuit of goodness. He absolutely hates the idea of unkindness and evil within himself, and his zeal against it in others is unmatched. He's not exceptionally confrontational about it if he can stop evil clandestinely or discreetly, no matter how small, even if it's his friends. In fact, he cares more about ending it in his friends than in anyone else.

He wishes he could be deeper than that, a better friend, a slightly more emotional man, but he knows it may take a while, if ever. Still, he perseveres.

The more he gives into his Draconian blood however, an alternate self emerges. It only wants to take and better it's standing, but Drake is always in control and is usually aware when this side emerges. But this is why he must always use restraint with his powers.

Magical Discipline

Drake's magic deals primarily with light and descends from three Aeons: Creation, Destruction, and Existence. At this point in Drake's training, his skill lies in the first two portions, but it will not be long until he finds himself in the third.

Drake came from a family of Destructionists but first unlocked his magic in Creation. With what power he could muster up at a young age he was able to form nigh-unbreakable constructs of light that moved freely according to his will. His magical reserves, unfortunately, were small and weak. With no real supply of power he could do little to nothing on a regular basis.

When his anger against evil awakened, so did a new aspect of his power, and he found himself able to utilise the absence of light in one way and one way only: absorbing the energy in others and transferring it to himself. If he could catch someone with his shadowy tendrils he could start to drain them. He showed restraint so as not to alienate his family further, and his magical reserves grew with practice so that he had to use his destructive power less and less. Nowadays, it certainly helps in a fight, but he prefers to go all on his own power rather than enlarge his wellspring artificially.

His real potential is in the Aeon of Existence, but only because of the nature of his potential for Creation. Drake's constructs of light are more than just sturdy objects; they channel natural magic with incredible ease at almost no magical expenditure for their creator. At this point, Drake is beginning to notice, and with formula, math, and a lot of research, he will unlock the power of the Crystal Matrix. Crystal Matrices are simply disks made of light, just like the rest of Drake's constructs, but the disks are layered with perfect fractal patterns and etched with precise magical channels.

The Matrices pull in natural magic and use it to channel the environment itself. Each Crystal Matrix uses the environment to do purely natural things—but the flow of magic encourages rapidity, efficiency, and efficacy. One Matrix may reflect and even amplify the force of a physical attack; another may dispel the magical energy in an attack it or even encourage its absorption by Drake. Yet another could speed up blood clotting or the knitting of bones or encourage the growth of a plant—and some Matrices take more energy from Drake than do others. But their sheer efficiency is to be envied.

One must not also forget his Draconian blood, which slowly transforms him into a dragon as he continues to use his magic. His Draconian form is strong, but overusing his magic runs the risk of permanently changing not only his body, but his mind as well. Drake must never lose the battle to his selfish dragon blood.

Equipment: Drake wields a sword—a real sword—that looks like it might be made of light. He uses it to channel his magic into energetic beams of light and sometimes to "draw" his constructs in midair. It's all for show at this point, but it points to another aspect of his: precision. Drake is incredibly graceful in every action. He will not do something if he can't do it as efficiently and precisely as possible, and the showier, the better. Every step he takes is timed, every flourish of his hands—and, in battle, every spell, every attack, and every construct. He has mastered the art of precision in all things, a quality that is important to his magic in all its forms, but he has done it at the painful cost of important social development at a young age.

Biography

Drake came from a long line of mages that operated under the Aeon of Destruction and Destruction alone. They expected much from their firstborn, but when all their attempts to awaken their kind of magic within him failed, their disappointment was palpable. When the stress got to him and woke his magic of Creation instead, his extended family shunned him and those closest to him hid behind pity. His was a homeschooling family, so he had few real relationships outside of his home. So, isolated against his will, he spent all his time training when he wasn't teaching himself the subjects his family failed to instruct him in.

His magical reserves were incredibly tiny. With so little energy to go on at any given moment he had to be extremely efficient, and his talent for precision grew quickly. His creations fascinated his younger siblings, both of whom ended up with Destruction Magic, but his parents started keeping him away from them as if he were infecting them with his creativity. However, he discovered a chance for redemption when, extinguishing his light incorrectly, he ended up with tangible darkness in its place. Black magic—a stroke of luck! Upon experimentation, he found that he could extract the energy from plants and animals, but his parents were not as overjoyed as he had hoped. They half-heartedly encouraged further experimentation and, with unexpected kindness, let him test his abilities on them.

A whole new world opened up to him. Though his drain on the magic of others was temporary, the effect on him was both temporary and permanent. Little by little he expanded his wellspring with his parents' consent, showing great restraint even as he learned to do bigger and better things with the magic he truly loved. Disappointed with his growing love for Creation magic, Drake's uncle pushed him to use his Destruction magic more and more. Things came to a head on the day he accidentally used it to kill his favourite pet—and, with it, he nearly killed his little sister, as well. That was the day he swore off evil entirely; his uncle was found gulity for much worse than influencing Drake and he himself was shipped right off to a magical boarding school.

Though little did anyone know that Drake's unkle was aware of what Drake was. His unkle was aware of the Draconian blood sleeping in his veins, and it would awaken soon...

For a couple of young years he distinguished himself there with exemplary performance and marked improvement. With a few new friends acting as willing sources for his magic, he soon grew his magical reserves to an actually reasonable level and was noticed for his abilities, academic and magical, by the Breakfast University for Magic.

If Drake was forced to sacrifice something important in order to move forward, he would choose his Destruction magic in a heartbeat. It has some use in fights, but he can improve his magical reserves on his own, now, if slower than he could at his full Aeonic potential.

If Drake were given a single wish, he would have asked for the love of his parents a few years ago. He supposes he'll figure out himself, now, and he'd rather they actually love him rather than being forced to. Instead, he'd probably wish for the ability to create anything he wanted; he'd find that rather useful.

REFINED:

Jade Merivale

Name: Jade Merivale

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Appearance

Picture

Jade is an eccentric person who dresses the part. Fair skin and a bright red eyes. While she chooses to wear nice formal outfits, she often wears garish jackets or hoodies over them for a more grunge look. Jade does love wearing nice shoes though. One can hear the click of her taps with every step.

Her hair is often has colored to a dark ocean blue. Though with excessive use of her magic, her body takes on a crystalline complexion. Once-smooth skin overlaid with geometrically perfect facets that glitter in the light. They glow and expand across her body if she takes her magic too far.

Year: 3

Rank: Journeyman

Room No. 314

Personality

Jade Merivale is eccentric and slightly socially inept. Her upbringing had few meaningful connections, and she grew up introverted. She was pretty much raised by fictional characters from books, being as snarky and weird as they were. It's all surface of course, just a persona.

She has an unyielding pursuit of righteousness hidden under her persona. At the core of her being, she wants to be just like the perfect and pure characters she reads about. Jade hates her own negative thoughts and actions, and tries to stop others from participating in such things as well. Though she is not always vocal about it and can be quite discreet. Jade is more about quelling the evil in one's heart, not necessarily the individual themselves.

Jade wishes she could have more depth than her fairytale characters, both for herself and her friends. But she knows that with time, she will attain her goal.

Magical Discipline

Jade's magic deals in crystallization, a form of creation magic.

One of the first things that jade learned how to do was turn ordinary stone debris into crystal constructs. Because Jade has such small mana reserves, she actually can't make very many of these. But they are durable and strong, and can shelter Jade from almost all forms of mundane weaponry.

As she got older and learned of the horrors of the world, she started to experiment with her magic more. Push it's limits, even into unsafe territory. When Jade let her magic run too wild, her body would start to grow crystals, threatening to cover her entire body. These crystals would grow and extend like tendrils until they could take hold of a mana source. These “hungry crystals” enabled Jade to use the mana of others to cast spells. So long as they are bound to her hungry crystals, she can use their mana, or create crystal growths on them that can act as armor, or hinder their movement. Though Jade hates using her magic this way, as it goes against her principles.

Though through repeated use of her magic, Jade is starting to experiment with another use for her crystalline magic. Something between her hungry crystals and her crystal golems. She calls them matrix disks.

Jade is able to create a matrix disk and fuse it to her arm to be used as a shield, or throw it like a Frisbee. When they make contact with something, they shatter and alter the contacted object in some way using it's own magic. Jade could block a weapon and have it fuse with her shield, or throw a disk at a friend's weapon to cover it in crystals. Jade could strike someone's wound to fuse bones and seal up wounds with her crystals, or even cause plants to mature and produce edible crystal fruit. While the disks prey on the object's mana, Jade does need to use some of her own mana to “program” the disks. The more complex the outcome, the more mana it drains from her.

Regardless of what she's casting, once her reserves hit zero, she can still draw mana from some hidden reserve. But doing so changes her, causing her to become covered in crystals. While her original form will return to her with rest or external mana supliments, she runs the risk of losing her mind to the dark well of mana she borrows from, and could even permanently transform into a crystal statue through misuse. Jade is always trying to balance the use of her power. Crystal magic is powerful creation magic, but it definitely brings with it a void like hunger for mana

Equipment: Jade wields a sword made out of crystal. It's a catalyst for her spells, and it's shape can be altered with her magic. This includes changing it into a wip or momentarily growing twenty feet for a long range stab. Though she primarily uses it to channel her spells.

Biography

Jade came from a long line of mages that operated under the Aeon of Destruction and Destruction alone. They expected much from their firstborn, but when all their attempts to awaken their kind of magic within her failed, their disappointment was palpable. The fact that she harnessed creation magic did not make them very happy.

Her magical reserves were incredibly tiny. With so little energy to go on at any given moment she had to be extremely efficient, and so she studied tirelessly. She trained mostly alone, as her parents didn't like the idea of the extended family seeing their embarrassment of a daughter. No destruction magic? But Jade did try to find ways to impress her parents, and did it the first time she took her magic too far. They were very interested in her hungry crystals. Her parents became warmer people, but only because of this aspect of her magic. They would encourage her to embrace this twisted form of creation magic.

Jade's uncle was tasked with helping her explore her dark side. She did allow her new found love and aproval from her parents push her in this dark direction, but would eventually come to regret it. She nearly killed her younger brother, herself, and did manage to impale the family dog. Her family realized she needed a proper instructor and shipped her off, and they turned in the uncle for all of his atrocities in the field of magic. But it was too late. This experience taught Jade the horrors of dealing with such magic. She would not use such spells so recklessly in the future.

For a couple of young years she distinguished himself there with exemplary performance and marked improvement. With a few new friends acting as willing sources for her magic, she soon grew her magical reserves to an actually reasonable level and was noticed for her abilities, academic and magical, by the Breakfast University for Magic.

If Jade was forced to sacrifice something important in order to move forward, it would be her hungry crystals in a heartbeat. It has some use in fights, but she despises this destructive side of herself, as it is a grim reminder that she almost killed one of her own family members.

If Jade were given a single wish, she would have asked for the love of her parents a few years ago. She supposes she'll figure out herself, now, and she'd rather they actually love her rather than being forced to. Instead, she'd probably wish for the ability to create anything she wanted; she'd find that rather useful.

Onto my observations.

Comparing drake and Spectre, you can kind of see how even with a simple yet potent addition like ANGRY DRAGON MODE it doesn't really add anything of importance to Spectre's character. It's just a cool add-on that further beats into your head that Drake is struggling with himself, which doesn't feel especially necessary. Drake kind of feels like a kid's lunchbox, where he has all of these cool stickers plastered all over it that don't really go well together. Biohazard sticker, dragon sticker, sword sticker, crystal sticker, ufo sticker, he's all over the place. Nothing really works together, and the fragments aren't even especially original. He's just creating the illusion of something original by taking a bunch of effects we've seen before and putting them in one package.

Jade on the other hand feels like a complete package. Even though she had to stick with one boring aeon, her powers are more unique as a result. Crystal based healing spells? Crystal tentacles? Jade can do everything that Spectre can do and more, and she might actually get to join the RP if presented as a character. Maybe not because of how broad and all encompassing her magic is, but that was because I was trying to make her do everything Drake could do. Certainly if Spectre was OP, Jade would be as well. Not only that, but I would argue that watching Jade solve problems is more interesting than watching Spectre do it, if only because she has a smaller scope of power sources to draw upon. and most importantly, she does still have that internal struggle with herself. It's just with her hungry crystals instead of an entire Aeon.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

all of the truth bullets have just been handed out, so we'll just have to wait for the rest of them to come through the posts before the trial starts.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Didn't the teleporting maido vanish already?

Still kool.

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

snark·y / snärkē

adjective

#1: (of a person, words, or a mood) sharply critical; cutting; snide. "the kid who makes snarky remarks in class"

#2: cranky; irritable. "Bobby's always a bit snarky before his nap"